The 22nd Annual
NAM JAM
November 7, 2009
Kennedy Fiesta Park
9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
FREE Parking & Admission
Beer Sales Start at Noon
Bike Show & Poker Run with Los Vatos South Siders Tucson
PARTICIPATING BANDS
The Rowdies
Angel Perez & Band
Blue Horse Blues Band
Sarge Lintecum
Dirtnap
Bobby Soto & Los Recuerdos
Steel Ribbon
Vicki Nelson presents The Veterans
For further information, go to www.TucsonNamVets.org
Secretary Shinseki Announces $17 Million in Homeless Grants
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced that 19 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will share more than $17 million in grants to community groups to create 1,155 beds for homeless Veterans this year.
“These grants will aid our efforts to eliminate homelessness among those who have served in uniform,” said Secretary Shinseki. “Our partnerships with community-based organizations provide safe, transitional housing while these Veterans leverage VA’s health care and other benefits to return to productive lives.”
A key tool in VA’s drive to eliminate homelessness among Veterans, the grants helped VA reduce the number of Veterans who are homeless on a typical night last year by 15 percent to about 131,000 Veterans.
In other programs, VA provides health care to 100,000 homeless Veterans, compensation and assistance in obtaining foreclosed homes and excess federal property, including clothes, footwear, blankets and other items.
That includes the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program operating from 132 sites to provide outreach, physical and psychiatric examinations and referrals for more than 40,000 Veterans annually, while 2,100 beds in VA domiciliaries provide treatment to more than 5,000 Veterans each year.
In addition, VA partners with volunteers and community organizations to serve tens of thousands of Veterans each year through “stand downs” offering Veterans who often are living lives in the shadows access to basic services and referrals.
VA works with a variety of federal agencies and Veterans organizations not only to mitigate and eliminate homelessness but toward a goal of preventing its occurrence in the first place.
VA’s goal is to have a “no wrong door” phenomena, meaning Veterans who seek assistance should find it either in VA internal programs, from community partners or through contract services.
In terms of dollars and number of Veterans served, VA has the largest integrated network of homeless assistance programs in the nation. In fiscal year 2009, VA expected to spend $2.8 billion to provide health care and specialized homeless programs, with an anticipated $400 million increase in the budget for fiscal year 2010.
VA social workers and clinicians work with community and faith-based partners to conduct extensive outreach programs, clinical assessments, medical treatments, alcohol and drug abuse counseling and employment assistance.
More information about VA’s homeless programs is available on the Internet at http://www.va.gov/homeless. The list of recipients is below.
Recipients of VA Grants for Homeless Veterans
State
City
Recipients
Amount
Program
Ariz.
Tucson
Esperanza En Escalante
$450,938
10 beds
I am proud to say that I was around in the beginning when Tucson established this very fine program. God Bless you Betty Slaybaugh and staff.
Calif.
Adelanto
Life Community Development
$227,240
12 beds, 1 van
Los Angeles
Volunteers of America
$506,108
48 beds
Colo.
Aurora
Aurora Compre-hensive Community Mental Health
$46,706
15 beds
Denver
Bo Mathews Center for Excellence
$362,798
16 beds, 1 van
Denver
Volunteers of America
$72,327
8 beds
Conn.
New London
New London Homeless Hospitality Center
$130,627
8 beds
D.C.
Washington
US Veterans Initiative
$942,500
85 beds
Fla.
Orlando
Center for Drug Free Living
$1,049,257
28 beds, 1 van
St. Cloud
Transition House
$275,925
4 beds
St. Petersburg
Boley Centers
$94,015
13 beds
Tamp
Tampa Crossroads
$500,370
16 beds, 1 van
Ga.
Augusta
Augusta Steppingstones to Recovery
$499,070
16 beds, 1 van
Kan.
Emporia
Corner House.
$308,295
18 beds,
Ky.
Hopkinsville
Pennyroyal Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center
$1,604,714
50 beds
Mich.
Detroit
Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries
$932,500
60 beds, 1 van
– More –
Homeless 4/4/4/4
Mich.
(cont.)
Southfield
The Salvation Army
$1,241,289
34 beds
Southfield
The Salvation Army
$962,000
30 beds
Southfield
The Salvation Army
$397,289
30 beds
Mo.
Kansas City
The Salvation Army
$656,110
30 beds
N.M.
Las Cruces
Mesilla Valley Community of Hope
$180,750
22 beds, 1 van
N.Y.
Avon
Zion Episcopal Church
$96,015
6 beds
Bronx
Everywhere and Now Public Housing
$158,715
61 beds
Bronx
Everywhere and Now Public Housing
$188,500
84 beds
Schenectady
The Altamont Program, Inc
$46,332
12 beds
N.C.
Ridgecrest
First at Blue Ridge, Inc.
$125,813
10 beds
Ore.
Eugene
Sponsors, Inc.
$506,527
10 beds
Pa.
Philadelphia
Diversified Housing Solutions, Inc.
$436,020
30 beds
Pittsburgh
Community Human Services Corporation
$8,642
10 beds
Puerto
Rico
Aguadilla
Casa Del Peregrino Aguadilla, Inc.
$75,433
12 beds
S.C.
Wagner
Christ Central Ministries
$1,592,500
96 beds
Tenn.
Hohenwald
Buffalo Valley, Inc.
$142,350
14 beds
Texas
Houston
Forest Lawn Missionary Baptist Church
$169,361
25 beds, 1 van
Houston
Spiller Personal Care Home, Inc.
$1,900,000
184 beds,1 van
# # #
God Bless
Jose M. Garcia
National Executive Director
Catholic War Veterans,USA
josegarcia4@sbcglobal.net
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
In God We Trust
I no more than just completed the thoughts about the early passing of Vietnam Veterans, and I then attend a funeral of an Army Airborne pal, who served two tours in the Nam, with two Bronze Stars and two purple hearts. He was the consummate warrior who tapped into the soul of all of his comrades in arms. He was 61 when he died.
Escorted by approximately 90 American Legion Patriot Riders to the National Veterans Cemetery in Sierra Vista, Jungle Jim Grainger took his last ride to glory.
In 2003, Jungle Jim, escorted myself, my wife, and my son on the ride of our life; Run For the Wall, culminating into Rolling Thunder in Washington DC on Memorial Day.. He introduced us to some of the finest soldiers and Marines on earth. He made me feel my veteraness from the inside, as he had a way of honoring our core being in ways that only the warrior knows.
Yet one night, at the home of his former Officer in Falls Church, Va., Tom Carhart, now an archivist for the Army and West Point, we sat on the patio quizzing ourselves about why our buddies die so young…. as if we were immune! The speculations were abundant: survivor guilt, repression of true emotions about our actions that simply take their toll on the endocrine system. Of course crummy health habits. Anger and rage turned inward. Who knows? Really who knows? War has a long half life in the soma and the psyche. I do know that when I read the Obituaries in the Veteran magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America, the majority of the birth dates hover around 1946-50. Whats up with this?
I will just repeat what they said about Jungle Jim Grainger at the cemetery. “He never really came home.” Maybe that is the key to understanding a mortality rate that does not have to be.
A recent study of a 15 year-old Defense Department Program that has the intent of training and placing veterans in teaching positions showed some very encouraging results. A Florida schools study showed that students who completed the Troops to Teachers program, scored higher in reading and math, compared to teachers of the same subject, in the same school and with the same experience.
Troops to Teachers, has placed some 11.500 teachers since 1994. About 82% of the veterans turned teachers are men compared to about 25% of teachers nationwide. Some 40% of these teachers are minorities.
Several States have seen a doubling in the enrollment in the Troops To Teachers program.
The graduates of this program receive a $5000 stipend to pay for their education, and those who elect to teach in ‘High Need” Schools can get another $10,000.00 bonus.
For more information,access www.proudtoserveagain.com
I cannot imagine a more creative way to allure young men and women to the teaching profession. Kudos, to the creator of this program.
My former English teacher at Rincon High School 64′ , was a retired Army Col. named Leo Croteau. He was the most inspiring teacher I had ever encountered. His son Dave Croteau and I speak of him often to this day.
Many of our nations notable writers were both teachers and novelists and veterans of war. Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, William Manchester, William Buckley, William Styron, Ernest Hemingway for a few. All were warriors first. It clearly broadens your perspective on humanity and affords a depth for students that may not get such richness elsewhere.
These are indeed some very sobering statistics. As a combat veteran of Marine Corps having served in Vietnam, I have always known that we seem to have a mortality clock that ticks a bit faster than then that of the standard for insurance actuaries. Might any of our readers speculate about why this may be? I have a few observations, but I will let you all go first.
This isn’t good news for us “in country vets”…. Like I always said ….we died in ‘Nam , just haven’t fallen over yet….Too bad all the imposters don’t die just as quick or quicker.
*********
In case you haven’t been paying attention these past few decades after you
returned from Vietnam , the clock has been ticking. The following are some
statistics that are at once depressing yet in a larger sense should give you a HUGE SENSE OF PRIDE.
“Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s
age approximated to be 54 years old.”
If you’re alive and reading this, how does it feel to be among the last
1/3rd of all the U.S. Vets who served in VietNam ?!?!? …don’t know about
you guys, but kinda gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of
information I’m used to reading about WWII and Korean War vets…
So the last 14 years we are dying too fast, only the few will survive by
2015…if any.. If true, 390 VN vets die a day so in 2,190 days from today,
lucky to be a Vietnam veteran alive….. in only 6 years..
These statistics were taken from a variety of sources to include: The VFW
Magazine, the Public Information Office, and the HQ CP Forward Observer –
1st Recon April 12, 1997.
INTERESTING CENSUS STATISTICS. THOSE TO CLAIM TO HAVE “been there”:
1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August,
1995 (census figures).
During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to
have served in-country was: 9,492,958.
As of the last Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S.
Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe,
losing nearly 711,000 between ’95 and ’00. That’s 390 per day.
During this Census count, a huge number of Americans falsely claimed to have
served in-country . (fact check note by Mike Brewer. I do not concur with this figure. The only qualifier may be that there is a misunderstanding about what “In Country” means. There are tons of “Era Vets” who are categorized as Vietnam Veterans, which is sort of true, but they are Vietnam ERA Vets, and never left the United States. There census number is quite high, but I do not think it is this high.)
Subject: Press Release: Gathering of Warriors at the Pima Air and Space Museum–Veterans of WWII
Press Release
For Immediate Release
October 2, 2009
Contact: Paula Maxwell
Office: 520/321-1492
Gathering of Warriors at the Pima Air and Space Museum–Veterans of WWII
We are proud to announce a very special event at the Pima Air and Space Museum Saturday, October 10. This event is to honor our Arizona WWII Veterans, both men and women, who gave so much to our country in time of war. The gates will open at 4:30 PM with KUAT starting the program, in hanger 4, with their “Tucson Remembers WWII” one hour TV special. Starting at 5 PM U.S. Senator John McCain, AZ Governor Jan Brewer and other VIP’s are scheduled for a meet and greet with the WWII Veterans and their guests in the 390th Bomber Group Hanger. This meeting will be open to the media but you must contact me if you wish to attend as arrangements have to be made for your transportation with the Pima Air and Space Museum Staff.
At about 5:45 PM we will bring everyone back to hanger 4 where the program will start. A band and group singing music from the 1940’s will be underway as we transition into hanger 4 and start the program. Senator McCain will speak at about 6:15 and the Governor later in the program.
We expect in excess of 600 people in attendance with more than 100 of these being WWII Veterans. Having talked to number of these men and women on the phone I can attest to the fact each one has a very unique and interesting story to tell. I wish we had time for all of them to be told. If you have questions or wish to attend the meeting in the 390th Bomber Group Hanger please call me
Walt Stephenson——–Event Coordinator
398-4755
Cell: 591-0451
###
Paid for by the Pima County Republican Party.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
Subject: GI Bill Update – Transportation Assistance
Secretary Shinseki Announces Ability to Sign Up for Emergency Education Benefit Payments on VA Web-Site this Friday
Vans to Help Veteran-Students
WASHINGTON (Sept. 30, 2009) – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki today announced further outreach to Veteran-students eligible for a special emergency payment of their education benefits. Veterans can now apply online beginning Oct. 2. Veteran-students can also request courtesy transportation to VA regional benefits offices.
“Our Veterans went the extra mile for their country,” Shinseki said. “One of our top priorities in transforming VA is to be, first and foremost, the advocate for Veterans.”
Last week Shinseki announced that on Friday, Oct. 2, VA’s 57 regional benefits offices will begin providing on-the-spot emergency payments up to $3,000 to students who have applied for their education benefits but who have not yet received a government payment.
Citing the distance many Veterans would have to travel to apply in person at a VA benefits office, Shinseki announced Veterans can also apply online at www.va.gov, starting Oct. 2. The online application will guide Veterans through the process to supply needed information. Shinseki noted that online applicants will receive their emergency payments through the mail after processing.
“VA is adapting to meet the financial needs of our Veteran-students who are on campus,” Shinseki said. “They should be focusing on their studies, not worrying about financial difficulties.”
Students without their own transportation can also request free van service, provided by volunteers, to carry them to the nearest benefits office. To obtain this service, Veterans would have to call their nearest VA medical center and ask for the “Volunteer Transportation Coordinator.” Transportation will be on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. Veterans can find a map and list of medical centers at http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/division_flsh.asp?dnum=1.
Whether traveling by personal vehicle or volunteer van, VA officials suggest students check their mail boxes and banking accounts before leaving home, since some Veterans will find their checks have already arrived. VA would like to recognize the volunteers and Veterans Service Organizations for partnering with the Department to ensure that Veterans’ needs are met.
The emergency checks are an advance on each student’s education benefits, and the amount will be deducted from future benefits payments. Checks will be written at the regional offices for Veterans who bring a photo ID and evidence of their enrollment. VA officials emphasize that $3,000 is the maximum payment, with many Veterans receiving smaller payments based upon their likely monthly education benefits.
A map and list of the participating VA regional benefits offices is available on the Internet at http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/division_flsh.asp?dnum=3. The most updated information regarding VA issuing emergency checks will be available at VA’s web site www.va.gov starting Oct. 1.
Applications from approximately 25,000 Veterans are currently being processed for Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefit payments to students or schools.
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Veterans Court takes center stage at House Veterans Affairs full committee roundtable meeting
NEWS FROM…
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Kristal DeKleer (202) 225-9756
http://veterans.house.gov
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Holds Roundtable on Veterans’ Treatment Courts
Discussion Focuses on Successful Courts Aiming to Leave No Veteran Behind
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) led a roundtable discussion on judicial courts that only hear cases involving veterans and provide judges greater latitude in sentencing for non-violent crimes. Modeled after drug and mental health treatment courts, judges are able to order counseling, substance abuse treatment, mentoring, job training, housing assistance, and job placement services as alternatives to incarceration. With both Democratic and Republican Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in attendance, participants discussed their efforts to help veterans avoid jail by connecting them to necessary treatment and support.
“Today’s roundtable is intended to open up the broader thought process of how to help veterans fully integrate into society after service in the military,” said Chairman Filner. “I believe that we have a social responsibility to help those who have served our nation. We failed our veterans after their service in Vietnam and we cannot fail again. Veterans’ treatment courts provide an opportunity for a more humane response to those that bring the war home with them. We sent these kids to war – and war has affected their mental and psychological condition. Providing support for returning veterans is an obligation we owe to those who have sacrificed so much for our country.”
Currently, Veterans’ Treatment Courts operate in New York, Alaska, California, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, with other states working to establish similar programs. Highlights of the different courts include partnering veterans with mentors who are veterans, appointing public defenders who encourage active veteran participation in the court room, ensuring that veterans get the appointments they need for VA services, and addressing underlying problems like substance use, unemployment and homelessness. Judges relayed that their goal is to run a demanding program that requires personal responsibility and renewed discipline. Defendants are veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, Desert Storm, Vietnam, and even the Korean War. Participants noted that the costs of veterans’ courts are significantly lower than the costs of incarceration.
“These courts save money, but more importantly, they save lives,” said Chairman Filner. “Nearly two million veterans have returned from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Often, veterans struggle to adjust to the sudden loss of military camaraderie. Some return with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or other psychological wounds of war and may self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. Others return with physical injuries that require prescription drugs that can lead to addiction. When veterans suffer from substance dependency disease, jobs are lost, marriages tested, and families suffer. Understandably, illegal actions can result in less than honorable discharges from the military – but then these veterans are prevented from accessing the VA services they so obviously need. I applaud the hard work and healing spirit of the experts here today. As veterans graduate from these programs, our grateful nation stands behind them and celebrates their bravery once again.”
Participants
Honorable Robert T. Russell, Jr., Judge, Buffalo City Court, Buffalo, New York
Patrick William Welch, Ph.D., Director, Erie County Veterans Service Agency, Buffalo, New York
Jack O’Connor, Mentor Coordinator, Veterans Court Mentoring Program, Buffalo, New York
Jennifer P. Stergion, Esq., Chair, Committee on Veterans and Service-Members Legal Issues, Buffalo, New York
C. “West” Huddleston, III, Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Drug Court Professionals
Honorable Michael E. McCarthy, Judge, Civil Division, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Honorable Charles V. Romani, Jr., Circuit Judge, Madison County Circuit Court, Edwardsville, Illinois
William F. Feeley, MSW, FACHE, Director, VA Medical Center, Buffalo, New York
George P. Basher, Health System Specialist for the VA Healthcare Network (VISN2), Albany, New York
Prepared testimony and a link to a recording of the hearing are available on the internet at this link: http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=464.
In October of 2008, DK Associates Inc. started a new program to provide employment services to disabled veterans. It is their goal to collaborate with private industry to facilitate the process and help expand the career opportunities for our most valued citizens– those whom have served and protected us all.
The primary goal is to not only help one find a job, but to help start a career and eliminate barriers to employment with peer support and job coaching.
I have known Dot Kret and her work for 25 years. We are fortunate to have a such a resource in our community. Her associate Lori Kiefer is also a trained veteran benefits counselor, an Army veteran, and thoroughly dedicated to helping our veterans. Lets help them put these men and women to work.
Free job services and computer training to any US veteran who has a copy of their DD214, proof of disability, service connected or not, and is currently unemployed.
We will meet with you and explore your job interests and vocational goals, assist in the preparation of resumes and job applications, help in narrowing your job search and provide you as many tools as possible to help you become more job-ready. In addition, our staff or members of our business advisory council will have you participate in practice or mock interviews if you so desire. After you become employed, job coaching, both onsite and off-site will be offered to you.
Please contact Lori Kiefer at 790-7677 (w)
Employment Specialist, BHT
Project HERO
1502 E Broadway
Tucson, Arizona 85719
520-790-7677 Office
520-437-5510 Cell
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lorikiefer
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I cannot help but wonder how this health care debate will spill out. The level of enmity and identity politics is reeling so far out of control that I think we need a Psychiatric Department added to the Cabinet.
If for a moment our readers can suspend their editorial inclinations, and chime into something substantial and concrete, I would love to hear some predictions about how health care reform will look by Christmas. Or will it have a look?
A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder. if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.” Gen. George S. Patton